Chapter 57
It was around 5:45 p.m. Saturday night. The sun had already disappeared over the horizon, and the cul-de-sac was once again bathed in the beautiful orange hue of twilight. Double Dee had spent the morning and afternoon with his friends, running errands to the business district to pick up sodas and snacks for the big blowout that was set to start in fifteen minutes.
Double Dee was currently on his way down the cross street towards the trailer park. He was wearing a blue silk button down shirt, which was in fact the same shirt that Marie had told him brought out his blue eyes a few days ago. In addition to the ocean blue shirt, he was wearing a pair of tan khaki pants and black dress shoes. He was carrying a bouquet of flowers that he had bought at the business district flower shop. He had not told Marie that he was coming to walk her to the party and hoped to surprise her with the flowers
Double Dee had finally arrived at the Kanker's trailer. He stood in front of the steel door for a few seconds before knocking on it with his characteristic "shave and a hair cut" rhythm. He quickly brushed off his shirt and adjusted his collar and ski hat as he waited for the door to open.
After a few seconds, the inner door unlatched and began opening. Double Dee's eyes were filled with surprise as he found himself looking directly into Tabby's eyes. Tabby was not particularly heavy set per se, but she did have a large waist-to-hip ratio, and the weight that she did have was concentrated in her buttocks, making that ratio appear even larger. Nevertheless, her blue jeans managed to show that off that particular characteristic. In addition to her blue jeans, she was wearing a black t-shirt advertising VP Racing Fuels, as well as a pair of high heeled boots. Her long red curls draped over her shoulders and dangled to around the length of her elbows.
Double Dee had not expected Marie's mother to answer the door and was quite nervous upon seeing her standing in the doorway
"Edd, what a surprise!" said Tabby as she smiled, "Come on in, Annemarie's upstairs!"
Double Dee stood on the ground for a few seconds before he finally took up Tabby's offer and began walking into the trailer. Tabby took a seat down in her couch and looked over towards Double Dee.
"Whoah," she said as she smiled, "Boy don't you look handsome this evening. You ready for your big party?"
Double Dee stumbled to get words out of his mouth. This was only his second time talking to Tabby, and he was still quite nervous around her.
"Good evening Ms. Kanker," said Double Dee, "Thank you for your compliment, and I suppose that I am as ready as I'll ever be for my social gathering."
"Edd, please call me Tabby," said Tabby as she smiled and let out a chuckle.
"Certianly," said Double Dee as he smiled and blushed slightly. Tabby smiled back at him after which she began yelling up the stairs.
"Annemarie!" yelled Tabby, "There's someone here to see you!"
"Alright Mom, I'll be right down, I'm just finishing up!" yelled Marie down the stairs.
A few moments later, Marie began descending the stair case. Marie's feet were the first thing Double Dee had laid eyes on, and they were covered by brown high heeled boots. Black leggings emerged from her boots, and passed underneath the blue pleated thin-strapped dress that she was wearing. There was a black belt encircling her waist. In addition, she was wearing her "Annemarie" necklace that Double Dee had given her around her neck. She was carrying a black purse containing her perfume and other accessories.
As soon as Marie's face came into view, Double Dee's jaw metaphorically dropped to the floor. Marie was smiling from ear to ear upon taking sight of Double Dee. Her mother had helped her out with her makeup, and she looked fantastic. Her hair retained her usually sweep style to hide her eye, but was layered and appeared to have been professionally styled.
Double Dee was speechless when Marie descended the last step and stood directly in front of him. He decided to break the silence
"H..He…Hello Marie," said Double Dee as he blushed.
"Hi…Double Dee," said Marie as her face turned as red as a beat.
Double Dee had forgotten that Tabby was in the room, as he was completely immersed in Marie's beauty.
"Marie, you are so beautiful," said Double Dee as he smiled into her eyes.
"Thank you Double Dee," said Marie as she blushed, "You look handsome tonight yourself."
The couple smiled at each other as Tabby shared a smile of her own seeing her daughter interaction with her boyfriend. Double Dee walked over to his girlfriend and held out his bouquet of flowers to her.
"These are for you Marie," said Double Dee as he blushed severely.
"Double Dee," said Marie as she observed the flowers, "They're beautiful, thank you so much."
Marie quickly hugged Double Dee. They conversed for a few seconds before deciding that it was time to leave.
"I'll put these in a vase for you," said Tabby as she grabbed the flowers off of Marie.
"Alright," said Tabby as she leaned in and hugged her daughter, "Have fun tonight Annemarie."
"Thanks mom," said Marie as she hugged her mother back, "I will."
Tabby turned to Double Dee.
"And you!" said Tabby jokingly as she wrapped her arms tightly around Double Dee, "Thank you so much for finding that music box in my old house. You have no idea how much that meant to me."
Tabby pulled away and looked into Double Dee's eyes while placing her hand on his shoulder.
"You are such a nice boy Double Dee," said Tabby as she smiled, "Annemarie really knows how to pick a great guy."
Double Dee smiled at Tabby.
"Thank you for your kind words Ms. Kank….."
Tabby gave Double Dee a playful evil glare, at which point he caught on to what she was signaling.
"…..Tabby. I can assure you that I have picked a superb young lady as well."
After a few more minutes of conversing, Marie grabbed a couple of trays of food off of the kitchen counter after which she and Double Dee began their journey back to the cul-de-sac. Tabby smiled as Double Dee escorted her daughter out of the trailer and through the trailer park. Double Dee had offered to carry the heavy trays for Marie, which Tabby saw as an extremely manly gesture.
As the couple walked towards the construction site, Tabby was reminded of her long walks she used to take around the park with Rod. Although she missed them dearly, she was proud that her daughter was able to experience the same feelings she had been able to.
Marie and Double Dee were currently walking down the cross street towards the cul-de-sac conversing.
"So Marie?" asked Double Dee, "I can't help but notice the absence of Lee and May. They are still attending aren't they?"
"Yes they are," said Marie as she smiled into her boyfriend's eyes, "I stayed home and reheated this food while they went to pick up sodas. They should be on their way to your house right now."
"Great," said Double Dee, "It just wouldn't be complete without everyone there."
Marie smiled toward the ground as she switched her purse to her left hand. Double Dee couldn't help but notice that Marie's hair looked exceptionally beautiful this evening and decided to compliment it.
"Marie, your hair looks absolutely exquisite this evening," said Double Dee as he smiled at his girlfriend.
"Thank you Double Dee," said Marie as she blushed, "My mom took us all to her stylist this afternoon to have our hair done for the party. It was great doing something as a family for once."
"I must say that the stylist really knows her craft well," said Double Dee as she blushed and smiled at Marie, "But I strongly believe that you would look this stunning regardless of your hairstyle of choice."
Marie smiled and blushed, after which she joked.
"Please Double Dee stop with the sweetness!" Marie said playfully, "My heart is almost totally melted away!"
Marie and Double Dee giggled together as they reached the entrance to the cul-de-sac.
Eddy and Ed had decided to stay at Double Dee's house to set up the party. Although they had promised to wait for his return before initiating the celebrations, Eddy's impatience got the best of him. Eddy had chosen the song, "Beach Party Blowout" as the first tune of the evening, an instrumental surf song that Nazz had commonly used at her sprinkler parties. Eddy had also used it the previous summer during a "friend party" he had thrown for Johnny 2x4 after he had a fight with Plank. The music was so loud that Double Dee could hear it from across the street.
"Oh dear," said Double Dee, "It appears that Eddy has already started the party."
Marie giggled as she and Double Dee made their way across the street and up the gravel path to his house. Marie opened the door for, Double Dee who was carrying trays of food, and the couple proceeded into the house.
Double Dee glanced around his living room. Ed and Eddy were standing in the middle of the floor conversing. Both were wearing blue jeans. Ed was wearing a green button down shirt accented by a blue tie. His red hair was gelled and parted on the side. Eddy of course had his hair slicked back using gel, and was wearing the same red button down shirt he had worn on Valentines Day. Oddly enough, he was wearing sun glasses to "heighten his image" even though he was indoors and it was nighttime. Kevin was currently sitting on the couch with Nazz, whispering into her ear, causing her to giggle. Even Johnny 2x4 was already there, sitting on Ed's love seat conversing with his best friend Plank. Of course, due to Eddy's antics, various other male and female students from Peach Creek Junior High also occupied his house.
As soon as Marie shut the door behind her, Eddy took notice of their arrival.
"Double Dee!" yelled Eddy as he walked over towards the couple, Eddy looked at Marie and smiled.
"Eddy, I thought we agreed not to start the party until 7:00?" said Double Dee, "Why are all of our guests already here?"
"Hey, the early bird catches the worm," said Eddy after which he leaned into Double Dee's ear, "And I'm goin fishin. Look at all of these hot chicks just waitin' to be swept off of their feet!"
Double Dee sighed as Eddy playfully patted him on the shoulder and pulled away from him smiling. He turned his attention to Marie.
"Marie," Eddy clicked his tongue twice while positioning his two hands to look like pistols, "Lookin' good tonight"
All three teenagers smiled after which Eddy took notice that Double Dee was holding the food trays.
"Food?" asked Eddy.
"Yes," said Double Dee, "Lasagna and stuffed shells courtesy of Ms. Kanker."
"Groovy," said Eddy as he took the trays, "I'll take these out to the kitchen, be right back."
Double Dee watched as Eddy began making his way out to the kitchen holding his food trays, flirting with every female he passed along the way. At this point, Ed had joined and greeted Double Dee and Marie, as did Kevin and Nazz.
"Sup Double Dee," said Kevin as he playfully punched Double Dee in the arm, "Sweet party your havin!"
"Greetings Kevin," said Double Dee, "I am glad you are enjoying yourself so far."
Nazz turned towards Marie and glanced at her hair. The two girls have never conversed within the entire year and a half they had known each other, and Nazz decided it was time to break the silence.
"Hi Marie," said Nazz, "You look great, I love your hair. Who did it?"
Although Marie had been known to be extremely jealous of Nazz, she couldn't help but feel confident that another girl that wasn't her sisters had complimented her on her beauty and femininity. Marie knew that it was the perfect opportunity to show her true colors, and possibly obtain a girl friend, which was something that she had wanted all of her life.
Marie thanked Nazz for her compliment and returned one of her own. As the two young ladies had their girly discussion, Kevin leaned into Ed and Double Dee and began a conversation of his own.
"Yo Double Dee, you should have seen Dorky tryin' to act like he was Casanova," said Kevin as he snickered, "He already got shot down by five different girls, and one even slapped him in the face."
The three boys couldn't help but share a chuckle at Eddy's overconfident antics. Just then, the door to the house opened and Rolf entered, carrying a large pot of what appeared to be some kind of stew.
"Hello friends," said Rolf as he walked up to his friends, "Rolf is too late for the happening of this hullabaloo?"
"No Rolf," said Double Dee, "In fact, you have arrived just in time."
"Rolf is pleased," said Rolf, "Where may I place my offering for the feast?"
Double Dee glanced down into the pot that Rolf was holding and was greeted with the sight of octopus tentacles, a few slices of fish, and a couple of pigs eyeballs. Double Dee turned away from Rolf's concoction and directed him out toward the kitchen.
"Thank you Ed boy, you will not be disappointed in Nana's work!" yelled Rolf as he headed for the kitchen.
Marie retook her place standing next to Double Dee, holding his hand as the friends began to converse once again.
After conversing for a few minutes, the door to Double Dees house opened once again. A few more male and female students entered the house.
May happened to be one of the guests entering the house at the moment. Ed took notice of her presence and blushed at the sight of her.
May was wearing a beautiful white pleated dress, with a black belt wrapped around her waist. Her legs were bare, and she was wearing a pair of white slip-on flats on her feet. Her usual blonde hair was no longer straight; May had had the hairdresser style her hair into loose curls that draped over her shoulders.
Her make-up was exquisite just as Marie's was.
"May!" yelled Marie as she ran over to hug her sister. The girls embraced each other, after which May joined Marie next to Edd and his friends.
Ed couldn't take his eyes off of May, and was currently experiencing that "wiggly" feeling inside his stomach again. He noticed that May was approaching his position and began sweating bullets.
"Um….Hi Ed!" said May as she looked up into Ed's eyes and blushed.
Ed noticed May's braces for the first time as she smiled up into his face.
"Hiya May," said Ed as he blushed himself, "You got braces just like Jimmy!"
There was a slight pause.
"Cool." said Ed as he leaned down to get a closer look. May smiled at the fact that Ed liked her new braces.
"And your hair is all loopy and pretty," said Ed in his dopey voice after which he blushed as caught himself speaking his mind.
"Thanks Ed," said May as she batted her eyes, "I think your hair looks cute parted on the side like that."
"Oh shucks," said Ed rather dopily as he looked down while smiling and blushing.
Marie and Double Dee watched smiling as May and Ed flirted with each other in their own little way. In the midst of observing Ed and May's interactions, Double Dee couldn't help but notice that Lee was absent.
"May?" asked Double Dee, "Where is Lee? I was sure that she would have arrived at the same time as you did."
"She did," replied May, "She came in right before me didn't you see her. She said that she was thirsty from the walk and that she was going to get a drink from the kitchen."
"I must have missed her," said Double Dee.
"You probably didn't recognize her," said Marie as she grinned, "If you think me and May got made over today at the salon, wait till you see Lee. She looks like a totally different person!"
As the group of friends conversed in the living room, Eddy was out in Double Dee's kitchen placing Marie's food on the kitchen counter with the rest of the refreshments. Shortly after placing the tray on the counter, he heard a familiar voice.
"Greetings Ed boy with the mouth as big as the wheels on Rolf's tractor," said Rolf, "Rolf has brought an offering for your great feast yes."
"Alright Rolfy Boy," said Eddy as he attempted to grab the pot, "I'll just place it here with the…."
"Not quite yet stubby Ed Boy, for you must here the story behind this ancient concoction. Long ago in the old country lived a boy with hands as large as the fruits of the pumpkin vine…"
Eddy groaned as he had inadvertently been sucked into listening to one of Rolf's long drawn out story.
As Eddy stood listening to Rolf's story, he took notice of a young woman he had never seen before entering the kitchen. Eddy's hormonal impulses forced him to check her body out from head to toe. She was wearing black high heeled boots, which were covered by form fitting blue jeans. The jeans showed off her amazing hip to waist ratio, as well as her nicely shaped buttocks. She wore a red body-hugging tank top that exposed the top of her breasts slightly, but not the point where she was attempting to be too sexy. She was quite endowed around that area of her body, and in Eddy's mind, he had already estimated her to be around 36 C (he was right). The young woman's face was extremely pretty, and her blue eyes glistened under the lights of the kitchen. Lastly, her long red curly hair was parted on the side, and dangled down over her ears down to the area of her shoulders. She was carrying a tan purse in her left hand.
Eddy was in awe as he watched the young woman of mystery make her way across the kitchen floor towards one of the coolers he had set out for drinks. Her hips swayed as she walked, causing Eddy to become even more entranced. The young woman truly had model-like proportions; she was tall, and had beautiful long legs. Eddy watched as the girl opened the cooler and bent down to grab a can of soda, giving Eddy a full view of her perfect rear end.
"Whoa momma," said Eddy to himself, "Now that is a lady,"
The young woman placed her purse on the counter next to the cooler and began going through it. She still had her back to Eddy, much to his viewing pleasure.
"Did you get that Ed boy?" asked the voice of Rolf, breaking Eddy away from his thoughts.
Eddy had been so in tune to watching the girl that he had failed to even listen to one word of Rolf's story.
"Excuse me Rolfie boy!" said Eddy as he adjusted his sunglasses and collar. He ran his fingers through his hair, "I got some fishin to do."
Eddy began dancing and snapping his fingers to the music that was playing as he made his way over to the attractive girl.
Eddy walked up to the counter and leaned his elbow on its surface while looking up into the girls face.
"Hey baby, how bout I put my arms around you so that we can fly away together?" said Eddy with a grin on his face.
The girl was much taller than Eddy and looked down into his eyes after he had finished his statement. To Eddy's surprise the girl smiled at him, leaned down into his face, and began speaking.
"Finally, I've been waiting forever for you to use one of those corny pickup lines on me."
Eddy was completely taken back when he heard the sound of the young woman's voice. The young woman's voice resembled a gentler version of a gruff voice that he had been accustomed to running away from. That fact combined with quick glance into the mystery woman's eyes, and the bright red hue of her hair had allowed Eddy to realize that he had just flirted with a familiar girl.
"LEE!" yelled Eddy confused out of his mind, "Is that you?"
"That's my name don't wear it out." said Lee as she snickered.
"But your hair," said Eddy, "It's long."
Eddy blushed as he looked into Lee's made over face. For the first time, her hair was completely pushed away from her forehead and face, draped over her ears and shoulder, and Eddy could finally stare directly into her sparkling blue eyes. In addition, she had picked up a cosmetic product similar to invisalign that allowed her to disguise her ordinarily capped tooth. She was truly stunning, and as much as Eddy hated to admit it, she was 'pretty damn hot'.
"So," said Lee, "My mom took us to the salon this afternoon and I got extensions put in. I'm tryin to grow my real hair out to this length and I wanted to see how it looked. Got a problem wit it?"
"No no," said Eddy as he blushed slightly. Lee couldn't help but blush as well.
"I just…just...we…I..um.."
Eddy could not get his words out of his mouth while staring into Lee's beautiful face. He was forced to turn away.
"We'll I just thought that your hair looked kind of nice." said Eddy as he looked back up into Lee's eyes blushing.
"You really think that Eddy." said Lee softly as she looked towards the floor and blushed.
"Yeah," said Eddy in a dream-like voice after which he and Lee stared at each other for a few seconds. It didn't take long for both boy and girl to begin denying their feelings.
"Don't get any funny ideas!" said Lee, "I'm tryin to find myself a man tonight, and I don't need you crampin my style."
"Oh don't worry," said Eddy, "I'm tryin to score tonight too, and I don't need you around screwing up my chances with the ladies."
"Fine," said Lee as she leaned into Eddy's face.
"Fine," said Eddy back.
"Fine!"yelled Lee even louder.
"FINE! yelled Eddy.
Lee picked up her purse and began walking out of the kitchen towards the living room rather angrily as Eddy returned to the buffet to continue organizing the trays. Lee turned around as she walked towards the door and watched Eddy walk away for a few seconds, before turning back around to continue her walk to rejoin her sisters. At that point, Eddy turned around and was once again captivated by Lee's swaying hips as she walked out of the kitchen. Eddy returned to organizing the food, with a slight grin on his face.