Chapter 59

As Ed and May began their conversation out on the back porch, Double Dee had just finished ascending the red carpeted stairs leading to the second floor hallway. The hallway was dark and the loud music downstairs gradually began to diminish as Double Dee made his way away from the stairs to his room.

Double Dee eventually reached the door leading to his room and paused for a few seconds before entering. He could only imagine the "adventure" that he was to face upon crossing the threshold. After a few seconds, Double Dee sighed, smiled and reached for the doorknob.

Double Dee turned the knob and began pushing the door inward. The door opened rather easily, albeit with a slight "squeak and creak sound". As the door opened, Double Dee glanced over his room. The lights were on, but Marie was nowhere to be found. He entered and began walking across the red carpet cautiously as he had no idea what to expect.

Just then, the door slammed shut behind him. Double Dee turned around and discovered that it was none other than Marie who was responsible. Marie had positioned herself so that she would be hidden behind the door when it was in the open position. She was currently leaning against the wall. Her right leg was on the ground, whilst the other was bent with her foot planted on the wall. She was once again touching her index finger to her mouth as she seductively grinned at her boyfriend.

"It's about time." said Marie in a seductive tone as she walked towards Double Dee who was standing by his bed.

Double Dee stood with a smile on his face.

"Well that is quite an interesting entrance." said Double Dee.

"Don't talk." said Marie as she placed her index finger on his lips as if to silence him, after which she shoved him down on his bed. Marie promptly crawled onto the bed, and once again straddled her boyfriend. She leaned her body down onto his and placed her lips extremely close to his face.

"Just kiss." said Marie.

Double Dee was at a loss for words. Marie was in an extremely "amorous" and "aggressive" mood this evening for some reason, and although her advances surprised Double Dee, he as usual caved into her advances and touched his lips to Maries.

As Marie and Double Dee were enjoying each other's company upstairs, Eddy was currently sitting on the living room couch, sipping a soda as soft rock music played in the background.

Eddy watched as Kevin sat with Nazz on the living room loveseat, sharing a laugh with her. As he watched his good friend having fun with his girlfriend, he couldn't help but feel left out not having a date. Eddy finished his soda and began walking out to the kitchen to retrieve another, at which point something caught his eye from the back porch of the house. He peered out of the sliding glass doors to see Ed and May sharing their night together under the stars and conversing happily. Eddy smiled for his friend Ed, who had gotten over his fear of girls and was on his way to finally getting a girlfriend.

Although Eddy was happy for his best friends, he felt rather lonely and left out. The purpose of this party was two-fold; to celebrate Marie and Double Dee's reunion, as well as for Eddy to hopefully find a girl of his own. Eddy began to think that it just wasn't meant for him to have a girl in his life, as all of his attempts to court females have led to disaster.

Eddy needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of the party and calm his nerves. He decided that Double Dee's fathers den was the best place to do it. Double Dee had shut the large, curtained French doors leading into his den and had declared that area off –limits at the beginning of the party. Nevertheless, Eddy disobeyed his friend and opened the doors, hoping to find a quiet safe haven to regain his confidence.

Eddy entered the den and closed the door quickly to avoid being caught. Just as Eddy had shut the door, he heard a slight sniffle from behind him, as well as a gentle feminine voice.

"Had to get away too huh?"

Eddy turned around to see the same red headed girl he had seen earlier in the kitchen. Lee was sitting on the couch with her legs crossed, staring at Eddy with an expression of melancholy on her face. Her blue eyes were quite puffy, and her black eye liner was smeared down her face. It was obvious that she had been crying.

Eddy was still taken aback that the extremely attractive girl he was gazing at was actually Lee Kanker, the girl that he had desperately attempted to avoid at all costs for a year and a half. He was even more amazed that she was openly displaying emotions, as he had never thought that Lee would have been capable of crying.

"Yeah," said Eddy as he looked towards the floor, "I just needed some time, that's all."

Lee looked up into Eddy's eyes and could tell that he too was feeling left out by being the "third wheel" so to speak.

"Well since we're both in here anyway," said Lee as she uncrossed her legs and sat forward, "Why don't you come over here and sit down for a little while?"

Lee patted the seat cushion next to her on the couch.

"Sure," said Eddy as he sighed and walked over towards where Lee was sitting. He took a seat on seat cushion next to Lee, and sat leaning forward slightly with his hands folded. Lee leaned backwards and onto the arm rest, while crossing her right leg over her left.

The two sat in silence for a while before Eddy finally began speaking.

"So nice night huh?" asked Eddy

"Yeah," said Lee rather quietly as she looked down towards the floor.

Eddy gazed over at Lee and looked into her eyes. As much as he hated to admit it, Lee looked beautiful. Although Eddy had found other girls physically attractive, he was in all honesty enamored with Lee's beauty the most out of any girl he had ever laid eyes on. Eddy looked away from her and blushed. Even though Eddy made himself out to be confident around girls, he became a dedicated introvert at the sight of a girl he really admired.

The two sat in silence for a little while longer, after which Lee began speaking.

"McGee huh?" asked Lee, "I take it you're Irish?"

"Yeah," said Eddy, "Both of my parents are mostly Irish, but I have some German on my mom's side."

Eddy paused after which he looked into Lee's eyes once again.

"How about Kanker, where do you and your sisters come from?" asked Eddy.

"It's complicated," said Lee, "We all have different fathers so we all have different ancestries."

"Really?" asked Eddy, "But you girls all called that guy that picked May up from school yesterday 'Dad'?"

"Yeah," said Lee, "We all call him 'Dad' but he is really only May's father. I'll spare the details but the way things worked out, my dad turned out to be a loser that didn't want anything to do with me. Marie's father is rotting away in prison as we speak, and he probably doesn't even know she exists, not that he would want her anyway."

Lee paused.

"My mom and May's dad had a really good relationship until things went sour and they wound up breaking up. He always treated me and Marie on an equal level to May, even though we weren't his biological daughters."

Lee looked into Eddy's eyes.

"Being a father is more than just impregnating someone," said Lee, "Any guy can do that, but it takes a real man to take responsibility and be there for his children. That's why me and Marie view May's dad as our true father. He was always there for us."

Eddy sat in surprise that Lee had just told him so much about her life and her family situation. Although he was curious to hear more, he remained silent.

After a few seconds, Lee spoke once more.

"Anyway," said Lee, "My grand pop on my mom's side was almost 100% Dutch, and my grand mom was around half and half Scotch-Irish. From what my mother told me, my father's last name was McLaughlin, that's about as Irish as you can get."

Lee snickered, after which Eddy shared a chuckle himself.

"I guess the Irish is where I get the red hair and freckles from." said Lee as she smiled.

There was another bout of silence after which Lee remembered a couple of things that she had brought in her purse that she had meant to return to Eddy.

"Oh yeah," said Lee as she reached into her purse, "Here are your pictures back."

Lee handed Eddy the two pictures that she had confiscated from his room last Wednesday night. Eddy gazed at the photographs, one of which was of his family, the other of which was much more embarrassing. The photograph was in fact taken by his brother as a prank. Eddy was naked and about to get into the shower when he dropped something on the floor. As Eddy bent over to pick it up, his brother barged in and took the incriminating picture of his rear end.

"I have to admit that you do have a cute little ass." said Lee as she smiled.

Eddy, rather than being infuriated couldn't help but crack a smile at the photograph. That smile soon turned into full out laughter as he shared a good laugh at his embarrassing photograph with Lee

"So whos idea was it to take a picture of your ass anyway?" asked Lee as she snickered.

"That would be my idiot brother." said Eddy.

The mention of Eddy's brother triggered intense emotions within Lee. As much as Lee seemed to be okay with it, her little "rendezvous" with Eddy's brother in his trailer had been haunting her since that fateful day in the amusement park. The mental trauma that Lee had faced from her abuse had caused her to do some stupid things with men that she wasn't particularly proud of. Eddy's brother was the only adult that she had ever actively pursued, and quite frankly she felt disturbed after it had happened. Lee had not entered a situation like that since, and now that she was trying to reinvent herself, she certainly wasn't thinking about doing it any time soon.

"I only met him once," said Lee, "But he really was a jerk beating up on someone who's three times smaller than him. I wanted to walk over and smash his face in for doing that to you."

Lee giggled, as did Eddy.

"The big guy really went down pretty easy after Ed cracked him with that steel door," said Lee.

"Yeah," said Eddy, "You don't know how satisfying that was for me when I saw that happen."

Eddy and Lee giggled.

"Not that I even give a damn," said Eddy, "But did he wake up while you and your sisters were still there? The kids carried us out of the park pretty quick after it happened."

Lee paused for a second at Eddy's question. She decided to alter the story to avoid the details of her and Eddy's brother's encounter.

"We followed you guys out, but not before we each gave him a kick in the face for you." said Lee as she laughed, "As we were walking away from him, we heard him get up. We turned around and watched him stumble over to the door. He picked up the door and put it back on the hinges while cursing up a storm."

Lee snickered as Eddy smiled. Eddy glanced down at the pictures he was holding, and decided to ask a question that he had been dying to ask Lee since Thursday.

"Hey Lee," said Eddy, "What really stopped you from passing those flyers of me around the school?"

Lee looked down at the floor and twirled her thumbs.

"Well, ya know," said Lee, "I figured you learned your lesson. And after all of those sweet, heartfelt words that you said, I just couldn't do something like that to you."

Lee turned towards Eddy and smiled into his eyes.

"Look," said Lee, "As much as I hate to admit it, I think you're an okay guy, I actually enjoyed sitting here and talking to you."

Lee blushed after her last statement after which Eddy responded.

"Well as much as I hate to admit it, I think you're an alright girl too." said Eddy as he smiled.

Lee smiled back into Eddy's eyes causing him to blush as he became mesmerized by her beauty once again. The two sat in awkwardness for around thirty seconds before they heard the sound of girl's voices walking by the French doors leading into the den.

"I guess it's time that you went back out there to play the field." said Lee.

"Yeah," said Eddy, "I guess so."

Eddy got up off of the couch and began walking towards the door. Just as Eddy was about to turn the handle, he quickly whipped around to face Lee.

"You know what," said Eddy, "I was actually just thinking about grabbing us a couple of sodas and coming back. Will you be here when I get back?"

Lee sat shocked.

"Sure," said Lee as she blushed, "I'll be here."

"Great." said Eddy as he stared into Lee's eyes.

"Great." said Lee as she smiled at Eddy and twirled her hair.

Eddy smiled as he opened the French door and walked out, shutting it behind him with an audible click. Lee wasted no time and opened her purse, grabbing her makeup mirror and eyeliner. Her previous work had been smeared by her tears, but she would be sure that her makeup was good as new by the time Eddy returned with their sodas.

In contrast to the busy party that was going on at Double Dee's house, the Park n' Flush Trailer park was relatively tranquil. For the first time in ages, Tabby had finally had the entire trailer to herself. She was currently watching a live on the small television. Although she was quite lonely, she admired the fact that her daughters were finally making friends and stepping out from behind the social wall they had created for themselves over the last few years.

Tabby's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. The knock had no definite pattern or rhythm like Double Dee's "shave and a hair cut", and consisted of a series of five solid taps. Tabby did not expect any visitors and was quite surprised that she had a guest.

Tabby quickly walked over to the door, and unlocked the deadbolt. She opened the brown door and was met with surprise at who she saw. Standing in front of her was a familiar man of average height, around 5'10". The man had short blonde hair styled in a crew cut, and also kept a neat blonde moustache over his lip. He was wearing a yellow shirt used to represent "Caterpillar Inc." in addition to a pair of blue jeans. On his feet were a pair of brown work boots.

Tabby stared up into the man's blue eyes for a few seconds before she finally broke the silence.

"Hello Rod," said Tabby.

"Hello Tab," said Rod. He was originally from Texas, thus his deep voice contained a southern drawl. "Is this a bad time?"

"No no," said Tabby as she moved away from the doorway, "Please come in."